WHO chief calls for early preparation to deal with health emergencies

World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General Margaret Chan highlighted on Thursday the importance of providing early outbreak-management to deal with health emergencies which have become increasingly common worldwide.

"Emergencies by definition are alarming and dangerous events for people in affected countries but also increasingly for the international community," she explained in a technical briefing on health in emergencies, part of the 69th World Health Assembly taking place in Geneva's United Nations headquarters.

"When we look at the humanitarian system, this is a system that has to cope with a growing number of mega-disasters, such as those created by earthquakes, floods and conflict situations," she added.

Amongst the health scourges to have affected global communities since 2000 are severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), H1N1, cholera, Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) and Ebola.

The current Zika outbreak and the resurgence of yellow fever in a number of African countries are also of great concern to health experts around the world.

"We need to be prepared so that every country has the capability and capacity to prevent, detect and respond to any emergency," Chan said.

WHO established on Wednesday a new Health Emergencies Program, whose aim is to add operational capabilities for outbreaks and humanitarian emergencies.

A 494 million U.S. dollar budget was approved by WHO's 194 members for the 2016-2017 period, an increase of 160 million U.S. Dollars to the organisation's current Program Budget for emergency work.

According to official figures, over 125 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance today, the highest number on record. Enditem